Crystal Palace Boutique Hotel

Spacious rooms and bathrooms. Restaurant and breakfast below average. A lot of staff.. not sure what they were doing besides reading newspapers and talking. Cleaning below average Not a good choise if you prefere effectivness and good Quick service,

2 night stay. Warm efficient check in and welcome. Large clean room with comfy bed. Good size bathroom with complimentary toiletries. No problems during stay and I would stay again. Good location... 15 or so min ish from airport. Restaurant good too.

Having spent the last week up in the Rhodopi Mountains in a small hotel that couldn't do enough for us; it was a bit of a shock arriving at the Crystal Palace Hotel! The lobby looked lovely with it's spiral staircase & marble floors but as our group checked in, there was a distinct lack of friendliness from the receptionist & the rest of the staff! As we entered our spacious room, we were greeted by a smell of stale cigarette smoke so had to throw the windows open to disperse it! We saw that we were at the back of the hotel & were overlooking a bar area where people were sitting drinking-this became a problem when we went to bed as the party carried on until 1am 7 could be heard even through closed windows! The room had brown, old fashioned furniture which made it dark & the bathroom had wallpaper peeling off & several hairs in the bath! There was no milk for drinks & no answer when we rang down to reception! The hotel is very much 'style over substance' for us-we would prefer good, friendly customer service rather than sullen, non interacting staff! The only saving grace was the food which was lovely, especially the buffet breakfast which had a lot of choice although we would have preferred some traditional Bulgarian food being as we were in the capital! When we checked out, we tried to pay by cash for our bar bill only to be told that they had no change! The receptionist tried to make us pay by credit card but we did not want to do this so managed to get smaller notes to only give a small tip-we would have preferred not to! Asked how our room was, we explained about the noise outside only to be told, "We don't think it's a problem".......why ask then? The hotel is 20 minutes away from the airport & is centrally positioned in Sofia but the lack of customer service means that we will not return!

Stayed for 6 nights, reception man was so lovely (sorry did not get his name) beautiful hotel and the staff were so kind. House keep very good and we always left a tip, would return. Only complaint food was never hot enough and breakfast bland but apart from that really nice hotel overlooking the park

I stayed for two nights in May and the room was tiny, smelled heavily of smoke and alot of noise from room next door. Breakfast was limited and not worth the money I payed. There was no dinner option in the hotel for the evening as the restaurant was closed, but there are options in the neighbourhood, albeit expensive and low quality. The Health Club is a nightmare and not even 1 star. The sauna kept switching off, and the heat source is infront of the sauna door, which is very dangerous !! The steam room is very dirty and smells - not to mention very slippery especially with the hotel slippers. The shower had no shampoo and when I asked the staff they said they ran out. The jacuzzi water was totally murky and probably infested with germs, be careful. The staff are ok and speak decent English - but I guess it is expected? All in all the hotel was not worth the money they expect and next time I will stay at the Intercontinental or the Hyatt which I am told are new hotels.

Room was booked and paid for with AMEX Corporate card. At checkout, reception forced another payment for the full sum of the room…also tried to charge 2 extra breakfasts…both cards were charged upon checking…steer clear.